The dispensing process for vending varies according to the application. For example, a common dispensing process for bottled and canned beverage vending machines has motors for rotating an oscillator that, depending on the position and angle of rotation, will dispense the container (can or bottle) when activated. In other bottle and can vending machines, a carriage is maneuvered horizontally and vertically to position the carriage in front of the bottle or can that is to be vended. The bottle or can is released so as to fall into the carriage, and the carriage is maneuvered to a drop port where the bottle or can is dropped into a dispensing area.
Frozen food vending can present certain challenges to dispensing because some of the components required to activate the dispensing mechanism are often enclosed within the freezer compartment, creating a harsh environment in which those components must operate. Alternatively, all components of the dispensing mechanism are segregated from the freezer compartment at all times except during a vend cycle. Vacuum systems, such as those disclosed in any of U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,044,330; 6,547,096; and 5,240,139, and U.S. Pub. No. 2008/0093371, the entire disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference, have been used in frozen and non-frozen food dispensing environments to lift product from a bin and move the product to a drop port for dispensing. Such systems are particularly useful in connection with frozen environments, as the dispensing mechanism may typically be segregated from the freezer compartment at all times except during a vend cycle.
U.S. Pub. No. 2008/0093371 discloses a vacuum system that provides increased efficiency, is less complex and less cumbersome than vacuum systems of the prior art. The vacuum system disclosed in U.S. Pub. No. 2008/0093371 utilizes an articulated robot arm to position a self-contained motor driven rotary vacuum generating assembly so as to pick up a product to be vended from a storage bin, carry the product to a dispensing area and dispense the product. The vacuum system of U.S. Pub. No. 2008/0093371 includes various beneficial control system features over the prior art. For example, the control system monitors electrical current draw of the vacuum generating assembly to determine when a product has been grasped and when it is released by the vacuum. This aids the system in evaluating whether or not a product has actually been dispensed from the machine. In addition, the control system of U.S. Pub. No. 2008/0093371 monitors the rotational motion of the segments of the robot arm to precisely position the vacuum generating assembly during a vend cycle. Notwithstanding the improvements these features provide over the prior art, among other disadvantages, the control system of U.S. Pub. No. 2008/0093371 does not provide a simple means for calibrating, programming and/or re-programming the control system, and does not provide a means for reducing and/or monitoring vend failures. Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a control system that overcomes these, as well as other disadvantages of the prior art.
In a typical vending machine, products are added by a route driver (who works for a vending operator), filled (restocked) to par level (full) and that same route driver removes any cash that is in the machine based on purchases made since the last time the route driver restocked the machine. Data regarding the restocking process is often captured with a hand held recorder or a telemetry device transmitting the data back to a central server that is accessed by the machine owner/manager (“operator”). The trigger event for transmitting such data is typically opening and closing of the door actuated via an open and close switch within the machine.
This process has an inherent error factor. When the route driver closes the door, the system makes assumptions that the machine was filled to a par value, or filled to a level known to the machine to be full. The actual product level or actual product quantities in the machine after it is restocked by the route driver are not known and can be altered by the route driver prior to or after closing the door. This allows the route driver to “cheat” the system and steal product by making the inventory control system think the machine is full, but not restocking products to the par level. Therefore, it would be beneficial to provide a method and system that allows the machine operator to confirm the actual quantity of product that is filled into a machine each and every time it is restocked.